Occupational inequalities in health expectancies in France in the early 2000s: Unequal chances of reaching and living retirement in good health

Increasing life expectancy (LE) raises expectations for social participation at later ages. We computed health expectancies (HE) to assess the (un)equal chances of social/work participation after age 50 in the context of France in 2003. We considered five HEs, covering various health situations which can jeopardize participation, and focused on both older ages and the pre-retirement period. HEs reveal large inequalities for both sexes in the chances of remaining healthy after retirement, and also of reaching retirement age in good health and without disability, especially in low-qualified occupations. These results challenge the policy expectation of an overall increase in social participation at later ages.